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Occupational Therapy Schools and Programs in The United States

37 schools in The United States teach Occupational Therapy.

  • Greenville Technical College

    Vocational school Greenville, The United States In an official register

    Greenville Technical College (GTC) is a technical college in Greenville, South Carolina, that has served the Upstate region since 1962. Its main campus, the Barton Campus, is at 506 S. Pleasantburg Drive, and the college has 8 locations across Greenville County. GTC offers…

Occupational Therapy Studies in The United States

Occupational therapists evaluate and treat people who have injuries, illnesses or disabilities, and help them develop, recover and maintain the skills needed for daily living and working. In the United States occupational therapy is a graduate profession: according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), occupational therapists typically need a master's degree in occupational therapy, and all states require them to be licensed. A second, shorter route trains occupational therapy assistants at two-year colleges. SpainExchange lists 37 colleges and universities in the United States under occupational therapy.

How the qualifications are organised

  • Entry-level master's degree: the usual route to becoming an occupational therapist. Master's programmes usually take two to three years and typically include courses such as kinesiology, neuroscience and anatomy, plus a specified number of hours of supervised fieldwork. Kean University, for example, describes a 72-credit master's degree with six semesters of academic courses and at least six months of supervised fieldwork
  • Entry-level doctorate (OTD): some universities train new therapists at doctoral level. Towson University has both a master's programme and an entry-level occupational therapy doctorate, and Boston University's Department of Occupational Therapy offers undergraduate, graduate professional and graduate research programmes, including an OTD
  • Combined bachelor's and master's: BLS notes that some schools offer a dual-degree programme in which the student earns both degrees on completion
  • Associate degree for occupational therapy assistants (OTA): assistants typically need an associate degree from an accredited programme, which generally requires two years of full-time study and several months of fieldwork. Parkland College is one of the two-year colleges on the list with an accredited OTA programme

The assistant route leads to a different, licensed occupation: assistants help occupational therapists provide treatments.

Admission to a graduate programme

Admission to graduate programmes in occupational therapy requires a bachelor's degree, which usually takes four years of full-time study, although it may not need to be in a particular subject. Kean University states that its master's degree is designed for students with bachelor's degrees in another field. BLS adds that programmes frequently require completed coursework in biology, psychology and other sciences, and that some also require applicants to have volunteered or worked in an occupational therapy setting.

Language and visa for international students

Classes are taught in English, and U.S. universities require an English proficiency test before admission. For undergraduate entry, applicants must in general have completed high school and be at least 17 years old. International students need a student visa: once accepted by a school certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), the school's international student office issues the Form I-20 used in the visa application.

Accreditation, certification and licence

Programmes for therapists and for assistants are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association. Accreditation is the first thing to check, because the national exam is open only to graduates of accredited programmes. The exam is run by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT): candidates educated in the United States must have graduated from an ACOTE-accredited programme. Passing it gives the title Occupational Therapist Registered (OTR), or Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA) for assistants. Licensing requirements vary by state, but at a minimum candidates must pass this qualifying exam.

Therapists who trained in another country follow a separate route. NBCOT requires them to apply first for its Occupational Therapist Eligibility Determination (OTED), which establishes whether their education and fieldwork are comparable to current U.S. entry-level standards. To apply, a candidate needs an entry-level master's degree in occupational therapy, or a bachelor's degree in occupational therapy together with a further master's or doctoral degree, and at least 960 hours of fieldwork. A bachelor's degree in occupational therapy alone, as awarded in Spain and much of Latin America, is therefore not enough.

Where to study

New York and St. Louis each have two universities in this directory: Columbia University and New York University, and Saint Louis University and Washington University in St. Louis. Columbia's Programs in Occupational Therapy teach at master's and doctoral level. The list also includes Temple University, the University of Scranton, Ithaca College, Florida International University, Wayne State University and the University of Minnesota, and two-year colleges such as Greenville Technical College, Linn-Benton Community College, Kirkwood Community College and Bucks County Community College.

Careers

Occupational therapists work in hospitals, schools and outpatient clinics. BLS counts 169,600 jobs in 2025 and projects employment growth of 15 percent from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 10,000 openings a year. For occupational therapy assistants and aides, BLS projects growth of 20 percent over the same period, with about 8,600 openings a year.

Frequently asked questions

Can I become an occupational therapist with a bachelor's degree in the United States?

No. Occupational therapists typically need a master's degree in occupational therapy, and some universities offer an entry-level doctorate. A bachelor's degree in any subject is the entry requirement for those programmes.

How long does it take?

About six to seven years after high school: a four-year bachelor's degree followed by a master's programme of two to three years. An occupational therapy assistant qualifies with a two-year associate degree.

Is a foreign occupational therapy degree valid in the United States?

Not automatically. Foreign-trained therapists must pass NBCOT's eligibility determination (OTED) before taking the national exam, and then meet the licence requirements of the state where they want to work.